s950 memory

can anyone tell me if there are only two memory options availble for the s950?

standard and expanded?

this guy says this about his s950 for sale:

"it says 1.2 512k words installed" i dont know if the 1.2 is mb or
the 512k words is the mb....."

when he checked the memory.

correct me if i'm wrong, but i thought standard memory was 750k w/ an additional 750k available as an upgrade? so how does he have only 512k?

maybe he didn't clear all his memory when he checked it?

also, can i just switch out the upgraded memory stick/piece from my 60 and use it in the s950 instead?

thanks!

just got one myself and am still getting to grips with it.

i do know that the standard memory is 750kb which can be doubled to 1.5mb or trebled to 2.25mb - which is the maximum memory for the s950.

i think the 512 words is to do with the way that akai calculate memory i.e. 512 words represents the amount of memory it has - though i dont know what that equates to.

i dont think the memory from the 60 would go in the s950.

im sure someone will be able to clear this up.

op

60 and 950 memory are in the same increments BUT ARE INCOMPATABLE!

the 512kWords is reffering to the memory, the 1.2 is reffering to the OS version...

the s950 only shows 512kwords when its memory is stock at 750kb... it only shows the 512kwords and not 750kwords because the sampler is 12bit, meaning that its "words" are 12 bits long and not 8bits long... therefore the Kwords installed that is displayed is only 2/3rds of the actual kilobites of memory installed...

512kwords=750kb=stock memory, no upgrades installed

1024kwords= 1.5mb=1 memory expansion chip installed

1536kwords= 2.25mb=2 memory expansion chips installed=fully expanded


i hope this explains it for you...

thanks, guys.

dang, this site (http://www.ramona.com/Soundlogic/SLxxKUC.html) is selling 2-750k expansion cards for $199. i'm getting the unit for $150! that is quite the inflation on some memory!!!

but look how you can get an astonishing 8MB for the s1000 for the same price!?

is it because the s950's hardware is more out of date/rare? $100 sounds way more fair. these are some janky market prices for memory, wouldn't you agree?

plus i'm gonna have to resample everything i already did on the 60 w/ the s950.

ohwell, i guess i can flip the script and hock it if i don't end up using it that much. $150 is a decent deal, huh?

yeah, but it's cuz the memory is a custom jobbie, it doesn't take normal memory, so they got to make it for the 950.

ah, i guess that kinda makes sense. i may have to bite the bullet on this one! memory is a must!

but, yo, elmac, i didn't see anything on that site regarding SCSI upgrade for the s950. i'm thinking i'll STRICTLY use the s950 for sampling and the 60 for sequencing, hence rendering the 60's internal sampler useless. i'm thinking i should hock my 60's memory expansion in turn for s950 memory.

however, i guess there might be samples where i won't need to filter or do much editing so the SCSI upgrade still may be something to consider down the road, and maybe i should keep the 60's memory expansion.

i just don't really wanna have more (of anything) than i need ya know? cuz in the end it's all about WHAT you sample and HOW you bang out a beat. i was kinda thinking how i should've looked into the 2kxl a bit more cuz of the built in features (then all i'd need is a MIDI keyboard), but i do love this 60 so far. i'm getting used to it more and more each session.

how long did it take you to build your setup? are you finished?

whoa, almost forgot this question:

do i need the DD disks for the s950, or will HD work OK?

if you can find an s950 with scsi JUMP ON IT, they are EXTREMELY rare... the scsi board on the s950 will say "ib-109" and it will have an rca type jack labled "digital input"... also watch out for the "ib-105" board on any s950s you come across, the only thing about the ib-105 is that it is only an interface for a certain "atari harddrive", and good luck finding that particular harddrive nowadays... the scsi on the s950 is pretty rare... i payed like $400 bucks for my s950 with fully expanded memory and scsi... that is pretty expensive for an s950, they usually go for like 200-250, but thats without scsi, not to mention the memory...
i also bought some memory from Soundlogic, they were $107 each...
good luck finding s950 memory anywhere else though, i think its worth it, Soundlogic guarantees their memory for life...
one more thing about the s950 scsi... the limitation on the s950 for scsi harddrives is 60mb! that means that you will only be able to utilize %60 of a 100mb zip disk (i havent even tried a zip with my s950 yet, it came with a hardrive)... the s950 takes either HD or DD disks... so compared to HD floppy disks, the scsi HD/zip that you use will only be able to store info equal to about 45 or so floppies... the scsi makes it pretty convenient, but it is not as powerful as scsi on a lot of the newer machines...

cool, thanks for all the help fob!

man, so you got an internal harddrive already installed plus fully expanded memory for only $400?! that's a steal!

check the bay for s950's. the three or so that are up right now are so overpriced! i've e-mailed questions to the sellers regarding upgrades and haven't heard a response yet. nothing in their auction description mentioned upgrades ('cept one guy who added 1-750k memory card).

crazy.

i'll take a stab at this (stock) one for $150 and let you guys know if i'm gonna get rid of it.

floppies aren't THAT bad. not bad enough to make me spend over $350 for an upgrade that will only save me a few minutes for saving/loading time. maybe it's just me. i just need to make sure i keep a file system for floppies and hope they don't go bad in the future as they are known to have lots data corruption problems.

this guy says he's used his s950 for a while without any problems and he's in a rock/indie/electro-type band so he only needed stock memory for short samples. i'll see what i can pull (ala devin the dude!).

side note: you guys into devin at all? the beats on his last two albums have been SO FIRE!

i only know a couple devin tracks... doobie ashtray is the chit, same with lacville '79, some dope pimp chit... i havent heard many of his other songs though i got a few homies that are into him...

the scsi hd that came with the s950 i bought is EXTERNAL, not internal...

id say the memory is important, the scsi is convenient but not really as important as the memory...

yea, some guys are trying to charge way too much for their stock azz s950s on ebay nowadays... i saw one that actually sold for close to $500, no scsi or expanded memory! even though it was in nice condition, i was surprized that it sold for so much, i was like damn, thats good for me, cuz i got 3 s950s and an s900... one day ill get rid of a couple of them, imma definitely keep 2 of the s950s, i like working with 2 at once...

good luck with your new machine...

Peace...

word. thanks again, man.

and the whole 'see what i can pull' thing was in relation to a devin song, "see what i can pull." one of his best joints on his 'the dude' LP.

you should DEF. check out his 'just tryin' ta live' and 'to tha xtreme' LPs. i'll burn 'em for you if you'd like.

some REALLY good live instrumentation on those two.

i kinda get sick and tired of sample-based beats sometimes and every once in a while i need some FRESH original instrumentation for inspiration, ya know what i mean?

his shit will get any breezy in the mood f'real.

Don't get rid of your memory expansion for the 60, that's a dumb move, just save up for what you need in the 950. The 60 sampler is really dope, use that and maybe hook one of the outputs to the 950 so if you want filtering or timestretch you can sample it from the 60 to the 950, but don't do everything, I hardly use filters on my samples, EQ most of the time, but get to know your shyt first, and don't close yourself off to the 60 sampler, it really has a lot to offer that few people really know about, they thing once they know it doesn't have filters they know it all, but there are some sick tricks you can discover.

No, I'm not telling, its the reward for patience

fobedafied....


hahahah...that was me (or maybe some other seller) but I sold one of my stock S950's for around $465 or something like that! What's odd is I had a buy it now $225 on it and those fools bid it up to near $500.

Everyone's into that "12bit crunch" right now.

Aigh was into it way before this fad

ha ha, a 12 bit fad. I think it's just broke ass people wanting cheap gear.

alright, so i copped this s950 but what cable(s) do i need to hook up my turntable thru a vestax 06? can i use the same cable that i'm using for my 60? the RCA LR out to 1/4" stereo plug > stereo to mono converter > line input on the front of the s950?

and then i need a MIDI cable to sync the s950 and MPC 60? i know other dude was posting questions about that step but what i need right now is guidance on how to connect my turntable for sampling and connecting my 60 so that i can send my sampled sounds over to it.

also, there aren't any OS issues i need to worry about with this s950 are there? i seen someone else (maze i think) talking about OS versions for higher-end akai samplers such as the s1000/3000/6000. the s950 is just your basic machine, right? all i need to consider is doing the memory upgrade and possibly SCSI?